THEIR EYES WERE OPENED: THE GATHERING OF DISCIPLES
A Sermon by Pastor Chico Martin
January 15, 2017
Lections Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
We want to be with Jesus. Our hearts long to be in the presence of God, and our longing is no stranger to creation.
The Baptist, in today’s Gospel reading from John, identifies Jesus as the Messiah; that is, the Baptist recognizes the Anointed One, not from previous encounters, but from prophesy. This doesn’t mean John hasn’t played, as a child, with Jesus; we gather from Mary’s visit to Elizabeth he has. Rather, the Baptist is acknowledging the sacred role of Scripture and its treasury of Wisdom. All of Israel longed for the Messiah, but who he was and when he would appear was shrouded in the mystery of divine promise. On the banks of the Jordon, at his appearance, the Baptist points to Jesus as he is first revealed: in Scripture. Only then does the Holy Spirit descend from the heavens and alight on the shoulder of Jesus, identifying him as “God with us,” so we can come to know God through experience. The expectations of the Divine promise to Israel is fulfilled and the mystery of God’s Chosen One revealed. We are brought “with the whole of creation” to the glory of God, “hidden through past ages and made known in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Still, experience has limits. As Tim Hughes sings in this morning praise song, “I’ll never know how much it cost/to see my sin upon that cross.” The cost of what God does for us is why we worship and bow down to him; the cost of what God does for us makes him “all together worthy, all together lovely, altogether wonderful” to us. The greatness of our Lord is the greatness of his love and mercy. Continue reading